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Women’s League Reads

You are invited to join Women’s League Reads, a worldwide conversation about books of interest to today’s Jewish women. Women’s League Reads is a moderated online discussion group, via Google Groups, for members of Women’s League in which everyone is invited to post comments, ask questions and make observations about the book. Membership is open only to members in good standing of Women’s League-affiliated sisterhoods or to individual members who have paid dues directly to Women’s League.

WL Reads is a member benefit program that you may subscribe to by contacting Lois Silverman, Internet Services Chair, at lsilverman@wlcj.org, with your email address, sisterhood name/town/state or individual member information, and thereby join the online group for book news and discussions.

The next Women’s League Reads book club pick is If All the Seas Were Ink, by Ilana Kurshan. Join us for a live author interview on Sunday, October 7, 2018, at 1:30 p.m.

The memoir has won the Jewish Book Council’s prestigious 2018 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and other awards.

Ms. Kurshan fought her way back from a deep malaise that enveloped her upon the failure of a brief marriage, soon after she had made Aliyah. To find her way, first, she ran through the Jerusalem streets, then she plunged into Daf Yomi, “the world’s largest book club.”

In this memoir, she candidly, and with warmth, takes the reader on her journey through her battles with an eating disorder, misogyny, and that depressive period. She finds structure and meaning through the “daily page” of Talmud, as it is read worldwide over a seven-year span. In those pages, she finds gems of wisdom to illuminate her path upwards from gloom to light. The reader is gently guided to see the sages’ stories and lessons along with her as being quite relevant to modern life. She also works in relevant poetry and prose from the greats of English Literature that mirrors Talmudic truths, along with her insights about how best to live life deliberately as a fully-realized woman, one day at a time. Her efforts are rewarded — at last, she establishes a rounded, fulfilling life and loving family.

Ms. Kurshan, a graduate of Harvard University and Cambridge University, has translated books of Jewish interest and worked as a publishers’ agent internationally. She is the Book Reviews Editor for Lilith Magazine, and writes for many other publications.

If All the Seas Were Ink was published in 2017 by St. Martin’s Press. 320 pages-hardcover, e-reader version, and in some libraries.

Listen to our conversation with Waking Lions author Ayelet Gundar-Goshen here:

For more recommended reading lists, check out the following links:
The Book Corner – New and Recommended Titles from the Women’s League Book Team
Orpah’s List – Book recommendations from past WL book clubs, study guides, and supplementary promotional materials

Conversations with the chosen authors and scholars:

To listen to our conversation with Dara Horn, author of Eternal Life, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Rachel Kadish, author of The Weight of Ink, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Jennifer S. Brown, author of Modern Girls, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Deborah Tannen, author of You’re the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women’s Friendships, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Betsy Lerner, author of The Bridge Ladies: A Memoir, click here.
To listen to our inter-generational conversation with Erica Perl, author of When Life Gives You OJ, click here.
To listen to our cooking lesson with Mollie Katzen, author of The Moosewood Cookbook, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Lauren Belfer, author of And After the Fire, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Sarit Yishai-Levi, author of The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Joy Ladin, author of Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey Between Genders, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Phyllis Chesler, author of An American Bride in Kabul, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Gina Nahai, author of The Luminous Heart of Jonah S, click here.
To listen to our interactive, inter-generational program for Sydney Taylor’s All of a Kind Family, click here.

To join Women’s League Reads, click here. Include your name, email, sisterhood, or notice that you are an individual member of Women’s League (not a member of a sisterhood). In addition to reading together, we look forward to sharing some exciting benefits of participation in this group.